Title: A Bear With it - A BTSB Story
Author: Dri
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Puck/Kurt, past Sam/Kurt, Quinn/Other
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2.360 words
Genre: AU, Future Fic, mentions of past mpreg
Summary: Noah almost forgot Quinn had once been one of his best friends.
Disclaimer: They are so not mine, but I get to keep Ben for myself!
Author's note: Another story in this verse. Hope you guys enjoy it. And Build-A-Bear and Target so do not belong to me.
Feedback will be loved, cherished and framed!
*g*l*e*e*
For the life of him Noah couldn't remember if he had ever spent what felt like a helluva of a lifetime browsing for clothes that weren't even for him.
Hell, half an hour at the local Target to get some jeans and a couple of flannels and tees was all the shopping experience he had ever needed, thank you very much. Not even for Kurt he had endured such suffering of facing crowded stores and the fuck, so why, oh why, had he chosen to step into one full of overstressed parents and their overenthusiastic kids and overpriced toys to break this so carefully established routine of his?
The things he would do for Ben.
Right now he was trying to go through another cruel dilemma: what outfit should he get for the ten dollar Lil' Chocolate Cub he had gotten for Ben? The black and white tee and cargo pants looked good, but so did the Gorilla tee and shorts and the stripped shirt and tie outfits. The blue and green golf outfit and crazy hat would look good on Ben's furry friend, too.
Oh, hell!
When he had become such a clothes whore he didn't know, but Noah put the four (FOUR!) outfits in his shopping basket, got a… Pawsome Panda for Kurt, and turned to make his way to the register. Almost eighty dollars to play let's-dress-the-bear-and-panda-up! Ben would most likely forget the toy within seconds, but Kurt would sure have a blast. Perhaps he could make different combinations with the outfits Noah was buying?
The fuck, man! They had shoes to go, too!
Face burning from embarrassment, Noah shoved the little hiking boots back on its shelf and quickened his steps to the registers. The sooner they rang his purchases, the faster he could rush back home to his boys. After another weekend alone in Toledo, Noah couldn't get back to them fast enough. Financially wise, this unexpected deal they had landed was awesome, but the constant trips weren't doing him any favors. The guys in his crew were good, but he needed to be there to oversee their job, keep them in the schedule, and he only had the weekends for that. Hopefully it would take them just another couple of months to have the job done. He missed reading a bedtime story to Ben, and sleeping alone was hell. He didn't even miss the sex so much; he just missed Kurt.
God, he hated it that Hudson was right – he was so whipped it wasn't even funny.
"Noah Puckerman? Is that really you?"
No matter he hadn't seen the girl in almost two years; his brain would never fail to recognize the sweet melody Quinn Fabray's voice was made of.
"Hey, you," Noah said, gathering Quinn in his arms and kissing her face. She still smelled and felt as good as he remembered. "What a fucking surprise, Quinn. A fucking good surprise! What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same," she laughed and took a step back without letting go of his arms. "You look great, Puck, real good. What brought you here to Toledo and to a Build-A-Bear store nonetheless? Have you finally gotten a baby of your own?"
Puck frowned at first and then relaxed. It wasn't about Beth; he and Quinn had never talked about their now eleven year old child. Quinn was just being Quinn – more venom than would ever do her any good, although she seemed genuinely glad for seeing him.
"No, I'm here on business, and the toys are for Ben, Kurt's son," he added when he saw the confusion in her face. After she went away to college, they had rarely seen each other, the last time being at Sam's funeral. She had flown out of everybody's radar after that, so she probably didn't know about him and Kurt. "I always get him something when I'm away. I needed to see what all the fuss over these bears was about, so…"
For a few seconds the only emotion showing in Quinn's face was her growing confusion until she finally caught up with the clue bus and had the surprised reaction that matched the best of them:
"You and Kurt? Holy shit," Quinn Fabray cursed out aloud in a toy story full of adults that could have killed them with their unappreciative glares alone. Noah shrugged and steered her back to the cash registers before they were invited to leave the store.
"It's a long story."
"It's a long line. We have time."
By the time they had rung Noah's things, he had told Quinn the shortest version of the briefest version of his getting together with Kurt. She had chosen to leave everybody behind; she didn't deserve to know every single detail.
"And that's it. We've been together for eight months now and Ben is an awesome kid. Want to see his picture?" Noah asked, already reaching to get the picture Mercedes had taken of the three of them he kept in his wallet.
"You can show me any picture you want over a cup of tea. I just need to check on someone first. Come with me."
Noah checked his watch. It was almost two. He told Kurt he would be back between four and five. He could go for that drink with Quinn.
He followed Quinn to a section inside the store where a group of kids was sitting in circle singing songs Noah used to sing when he was their age. Each of them was grooming a bear with the help of monitors. Quinn went to a gangly college aged kid and told him something. He nodded and she smiled at him, then she walked to the circle, kneeled down behind a black kid who should have been five or six and tickled the back of his neck. The kid looked behind himself and smiled with the same joy Ben gifted Noah with. The kid nodded at whatever Quinn told him, then she smoothed his hair before standing up and joining a now confused as hell Noah.
"Ready to go?"
"Lead on while I call Kurt to tell him I'll be running a little late."
*g*l*e*e*
"You must be curious," Quinn started, sipping the lemonade she had favored in place of tea.
"Who's the kid?" Noah asked, putting his own lemonade back on the table they had found in the hell that food courts were on weekends. It was a long drive back to Columbus; he didn't want to take any chances by having anything alcoholic.
"His name is Darius, my fiancé's son. It's our weekend with him, so my boss invited him to her daughter's birthday party at the Build-A-Bear workshop. I had just dropped him off when I ran into you."
"How old is he?"
"He'll be six in August."
"And who's the lucky guy? How long have you been together?"
"His name is John, and he's a little older than us, divorced. He's a junior partner at one of the most prestigious practices here in Toledo. We've been together for almost three years now." Quinn laughed, probably because Noah wasn't doing a good job at hiding his surprise. "And you know what else? I've been living with him for nine months now."
"You, out of the wedding lock?"
"Can you believe that? My parents barely speak with me anymore, but I couldn't be happier," she told him with the most sincere smile he had ever seen her spotting.
"So why didn't you tell us at the…" Noah awkwardly gestured with his hands and let her fill in the blanks. After almost two years that event was still two painful to be worded out.
"I couldn't," she said, lowering her eyes to the elegant engagement ring on her finger. "My happiness wouldn't have fit the mood then. I did it out of respect for the people there, Puck, not because I was ashamed of anything."
"I know, beautiful." Actually he didn't, but it was nice hearing her say that. "Not what I had expected, Quinn, but I'm happy for you. I really am."
"Thanks," she said, covering his hand with hers. Funny to think that in high school before Beth, this, any kind of contact with her would have made his day, his week; fuck, his school year. "Growing up is a wonderful thing, don't you think?"
"We would have to one day."
"I know, Puck. Back in Lima I would just have been a blonde girl with too much ego and little perspective in her future. The bear in your bag had more personality than I did back then."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Quinn."
"But it's true," she insisted fiercely. "The blonde girl back in Lima would have left a wonderful man walk away just because for society he had the wrong skin color. I would have given up on another wonderful kid then, Puck."
She said the last part so softly her words floated in the air and stabbed his heart like little needles. "You did the right thing for Beth, Quinn. It was stupid of me to try and stop you."
"You did what any caring father would have done, Puck. We just weren't ready, then. We were kids ourselves."
"I know, okay? It doesn't change the fact that I felt like shit, though." Fuck. Suddenly he felt so damn tired. "Why are we having this conversation now? We never even said her name after the adoption."
"We've just found out I'm pregnant. We're telling Darius this weekend."
Quinn finished her drink and looked the crowd surrounding them. There was something so familiar on the way her hair covered part of her smooth forehead and in how her lips bent in a soft upwards curve while she smiled. Noah had read once that you never totally stopped loving the mother of your child even if you're no longer together, so he believed he would forever be a little in love with Quinn. But seeing how serene and yet radiant she looked only made him want to find with Kurt everything Quinn had found with this John guy, have Ben call him Daddy one day.
Be the one to gift Kurt with the glow only the pregnant ones could find it in themselves to radiate to the rest of the world.
Noah got himself back on his feet and pulled Quinn into another embrace. "I'm so fucking happy for you, Quinn."
Her laughter was full of choked tears. "We're having our second chances, Puck. It's still Ohio, but out of Lima nobody cares. Let's not waste it with regrets or guilt, okay?"
"I don't regret our daughter."
"No; never that." Quinn pushed him away enough to look into his eyes. "What I mean is, Sam was your best friend, but don't waste your chance with Kurt. If this is serious, he can give you the family you've always wanted."
Noah kissed her cheek and let her go. He almost forgot Quinn had once been one of his best friends, that in her own twisted way she understood him, still did despite all this time they spent apart. "I have to go home, Quinn."
"Walk with me? John is probably here already. I want you to meet him."
Their way back to the store was used to fill in the gaps about everyone else's lives, what Quinn had been up to for the last couple of years, Ben's shenanigans and his and Kurt's adventures in parenthood.
It turned out that John was a tall in a freakish Hudson way guy in his thirties who kind of resembled that MIB dude. Kurt would know his name. The guy was pleasant and didn't flinch when Quinn told him Puck had been shopping for his partner's son when they run into each other.
"We should meet up for dinner next time you're in town," John said, fishing for a business card in his pocket. "Quinn told me how close you got in high school. Perhaps you could bring your partner and son, we could call our sitter to watch the kids for the night and you could embarrass each other talking about your Glee club days."
"We'd like that, man." They shook hands before Noah swept Quinn into a final hug. "Don't be a stranger anymore. Kurt and Mercedes miss you a lot. Hell, Quinn, I do too."
"I've missed you, too, Puck. Tell them I'm at a good place now and that I'll be getting in touch with them soon. I've missed them like crazy."
They parted ways with a final kiss on each other's cheek and the promise to keep in touch. As for Noah-
All through the long drive back to Kurt's house and the warm welcome he got from his boys. The way Ben dragged his bear around for exactly two minutes before he dropped it in favor of his blocks and Noah's company and how Kurt took over, trying all the outfits Noah had brought and talking about all the combinations they (him and Ben, Noah supposed) could make; how Ben clung to him while Noah read him a bedtime story and how Kurt took Noah's hand and took him to bed after they had kissed Ben goodnight. The way Kurt had welcomed Noah back into his bed and into his body and lying within Kurt's possessive embrace after Noah told him about his running into Quinn at the toy store; the way Noah feel asleep listening to Kurt's heartbeat. Through all this Noah dared to dream.
He dreamed of getting Kurt full with a life they had created together in a world filled by nothing but happy endings.
Still, coming morning, Noah knew he would regret having spent another day without telling Kurt how much he and Ben were loved and cherished, of how much Noah wanted to be with them forever and never let go.
*g*l*e*e*
Thanks for reading.
GRRR Outfit - .?productId=prod10030016&selectedParentCategoryId=cat110199&categoryId=cat110084&dressMeMode=false
Stripped Shirt and Tie - .?productId=prod10190045&selectedParentCategoryId=cat110199&categoryId=cat110084&dressMeMode=false
Boys Golf Outfit - .?productId=prod81229
Gorilla Safari Tee and Shorts - .?productId=prod82595&selectedParentCategoryId=cat110199&categoryId=cat110084&dressMeMode=false
Lil' Chocolate Cub - .?productId=prod82136&selectedParentCategoryId=cat110056&categoryId=cat110066&dressMeMode=true
Pawsome Panda - .?productId=prod80106&categoryId=cat110466